Jake fumbled with the cloth napkin as he set it on his lap. "Yeah, Jenny's fifteen," he informed his date. She was pretty enough. Sweet, too. A kindergarten teacher. The corners of Jake's mouth crinkled up into a smile. Jenny was really the only girl Jake cared about. "She's a cheerleader, but not like the cliché. You know, she's into music, too. She plays the guitar and the piano."
The date nodded politely.
"I taught her how to play." Jake's tone was sheepishly modest, but it was obvious that he was proud of his daughter.
"What about her mother?" The date asked curiously. She wasn't going to get into this if there was some angry ex lurking at every turn.
"Nikki? Uh, she's been out of the picture for years. She's really not much of a mother, if you know what I mean."
The date didn't know what Jake meant, but she figured it was better not to ask.
---------
Jake walked her up to
the door of her apartment building. He leered nervously from
side-to-side. He didn't think he should kiss her. He wasn't
sure. He hadn't done this in a while. "So, uh, I'll call you?"
He offered.
The date smiled and swept back her red hair. She laughed slightly. "Don't bother, Jake. You're a great guy and everything but not the one for me." She shook her head. She didn't feel like she even knew who he was. He'd really only talked about his daughter, and as much as she liked kids…
Jake nodded. "Okay. Well, thank you?" He walked off, scratching his head. He wasn't quite sure what he had done wrong.
---------Jake paced around his living room. "Stop it, girls, it's no use."
Jenny and her friends all giggled. One of them spoke up. "Seriously, Mr. Jagelski, it will be better for all of America if you got laid. I mean, how long has it been?"
Jake furrowed his brow. Since when did fifteen year old girls talk like that? Of course, he had gotten a girl pregnant at fifteen, but he expected more of his daughter and her friends.
"Carly!" He admonished, but the girl just shook her head and turned her face back to the computer screen.
Jenny continued to browse through the list of emails. The girls had set up an online dating account for Jake last week, and were eager to see what results they had gotten.
"Daddy?" Jenny was confused as she read through one of the messages.
P>Dear Jake,Wow, this is weird, I don't really know what to say to you, it's been so long since I last saw you. Did you get Jenny back? I hope you did. Anyway, I was surprised to see you had a profile up. I wouldn't think of it as your thing. It's not really my thing either but Brooke set the whole thing up. Apparently, now that she's married, everyone else in America needs to be too. So….I'd love to hear from you again or have dinner or whatever.
--Peyton
"Hmm?" He questioned."You have a message from someone named Peyton Sawyer? But it's weird—it sounds like you know her already?"
"Peyton Sawyer?" Jake was shocked. He rushed over to the computer to read the message.
---------Ten days later, Jake was grinning. "So, yeah, Jenny and some of her friends set the whole account up. I wasn't exactly expecting stellar results."
"So, I'm stellar results, huh?" Peyton's blue eyes twinkled as she took a sip of her red wine.
"Of course," Jake answered smoothly.
"Although," Peyton tapped her chin thoughtfully. "That would make sense—I didn't exactly think the Jake Jagelski whom I knew in high school was into sunsets and long walks on the beach."
"They seriously wrote that!" Jake's tone was incredulous and he was gearing up to yell at his daughter, but he relaxed and shook his head. "Oh well," he said. "I was gonna take it down anyway."
"Oh yeah?" Peyton looked surprised. "Why would you do that if you're getting such quote-unquote stellar results?" She made quotation marks with her fingers.
"Well, you really only need that one person." Jake said. He hesitated, unsure if he was being too forward. "I want to see you again. I missed you—this whole blind date thing. It sucks. I like that I know you. I know that I like you."
Peyton smiled.
---------"Jake Jagelski?" Brooke shrieked over the phone.
Peyton winced and held the phone away from her ear. "Ow, Brooke, I'm right here."
"Sorry," Brooke said. "I just thought that boy was gone for good after he rode off on his motorcycle." Brooke sighed. "You have to admit, that was a pretty good ending."
Peyton paused. "I'd rather have the beginning."